According to a family member, the victim was in her 60's and had mobility issues. She was well known in the neighborhood and neighbors say they often helped her go to mass at Robbins Street Christian Church.

“Please think about the human life and not about the money,” Covington resident Sharon Brown said.

Residents said they just want the brownouts to end.

What is it going to take for us to get to that point? Do my four children have to burn to death?” Brown implored commissioners.

Fire union representatives said when the city dropped their staffing from 30 firefighters a day to 27, they had to take a pumper truck out of service.

That pumper is just five blocks from where Joan Herron died on March 11.

"Ms. Herron's life could have been saved. It was very hard and very emotional to come out on my porch and look up the street and see that that house had burned down," Brown said.

A frank dialogue started about whose decision it was to brownout the pumper in question. Commissioner Steven Frank said it was the last commission’s decision but one resident reminded Frank that he was part of that last commission.

Despite the tough conversation, commissioners approved a new agreement with Covington’s fire union to staff each engine with at least three people and to staff the browned-out pumper when there are 30 firefighters working on a given day. But union representatives said that only happens about 10 percent of the time.

The commissioners gave no promise that staffing numbers will stay steady. They admit they could drop further.

“What we cannot do is go back to 30 firefighters. At this particular time, the city doesn't have that kind of funds,” Frank said.

The fire union still has to approve the commissioners’ plan. They will vote in two meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.